Pakistan’s World Twenty20 warm-up match against Bengal scheduled here tomorrow has been cancelled after the delay in arrival in India owing to the security apprehensions of their government and the Cricket Board.
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“PCB executive committee chairman Najam Sethi will meet Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan at 4pm while at the same time in India (4pm India time), High Commissioner Abdul Basit will meet Indian interior secretary”, it said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had also asserted that it will take full responsibility for the safety and security of all players and officials who participate in the World T20.
In fact, the venue of high-profile India-Pakistan group match on March 19, which was originally scheduled to be played at Dharamsala, was forced to move to Kolkata to avoid any untoward incident.
To a question, he said that he has seen very bad and hostile situation while playing in India as a player and re-called the memories of his tour with the team in 1999.
Basit said that he would be submitting his recommendations to Islamabad, adding that it was now for the Pakistan Government to decide.
After days of uncertainty and statements and counter statements the decision to send the team came after getting direct assurances from the Indian government for providing top security to the Pakistani players, officials, media personnel and fans who visit the country.
The decision by the interior ministry related to the teams’ departure is likely to be announced within 24 hours. They wanted their venue to be shifted from Dharamsala to Kolkata that has been done.
Pakistan are due to play against a qualifier in Kolkata on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, Pakistan is looking for an excuse not to come”, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur told a local news channel.
“Our hope is that our cricketing relations (between India and Pakistan) remain intact”, Khan said.
“We are providing security to everyone and Pakistan will be given adequate security”. “We told all the players that if anyone wants to pull out on security grounds then we can take special permission for him to be replaced but all the players are unanimously willing to go and give their best”, he said.
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“We have missed one warm-up match but that was against a local team”.
